Saturday, February 2, 2013

Everything but the facts

Portland police civilian official fired over unprofessional text messages. Sexual in nature? Harassment? Intimidation? Something to do with Todd Wyatt?

It is another one of those released at the weekend stories destined to be forgotten or overridden by other news before Monday. But worse yet the story by the Oregonian and media like KGW contains nothing pertinent to what happened. Their posts are nothing more than the official email release.

The substance of the story is absent. Isn't the question what did Mike Kuykendall text? His story - an attempt to be humorous. The chief's story - unprofessional conduct. But what was the content of text message that cost Kuykendall his job? Was it essentially a single incident or a pattern? Had it occurred over a long period of time or just recently? Who reported the "unprofessional" text messages?

The content must have been a real doozie to cost someone their job, and to be fired by his friend and fellow band member. Resign or be fired by his friend the chief. And it was a job that the chief that arguably created just for him. A job reeking of special favor. Nepotism, plain and simple. But there are no benefits to hiring family or friends for jobs. It is not good management nor good friendship.

But since Kuykendall remains in place until another is hired or appointed - the news media has time to get the facts. It may be a story that borders on being tragic. Mr. Kuykendall has been a real fixture in Portland - just what did he text? Will the media leave it at unprofessional?